Background. Momordica charantia is a medicinal plant used traditionally for treatment of various diseases including diabetes. Objective. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of PDM011011 capsules (1.2 g/day) as an adjuvant thera py in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods. Each PDM011011 capsule contained 400 mg dry fruit juice powder of Momordica charantia. Ninety three T2DM patients receiving at least one oral hy poglycemic treatment were screened. The eligible 85 subjects were randomized into 3:1 ratio in drug treatment (PDM011011 capsules) and placebo arm. Sixtyfour patients received three 400 mg PDM011011 capsules (1.2 g/day) while 21 patients received three placebo capsules per day for 90 days respectively. The primary efficacy endpoints were mean change in FPG, PPG level and HbA 1c % from baseline to day 30, 60 and 90 after interventions. Results. PDM011011capsule (1.2 g/day) showed sig nificant reduction in FPG level by 14.59% after 90 days treatment, while patients receiving placebo capsules exhibited a marginal increase of 2.12%. The reduction in FPG level was statistically significant (p = 0.013) as compared with the placebo group. It also reduced PPG level by 22.21% as compared to the 3.71% reduction (p = 0.002) in placebo group. The encouraging reduc tion in HbA 1c % in the drug group was 0.78 as compared to the placebo group with only 0.20 (p = 0.066). PDM011011 capsule showed no adverse events, seri ous adverse events and death in the study population. Conclusion. PDM011011capsule (1.2 g/day) showed good efficacy and safety; and it can be prescribed as an adjuvant therapy in subjects with T2DM.

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Among 126 Valmiki, 128 Bagatha, 129 Konda Dora and 73 Samanta tribals of Andhra Pradesh, the incidence of red-green colour-blindness in the males ranges from zero to 2.27 per cent. Samanta males exhibit no colour-blindness. In the females, only Konda Doras exhibit a frequency of 2.44 per cent of the trait. Comparison of the present data with the other available tribal and non-tribal data of Andhra Pradesh shows that our results fall well in the range for other data. Post's (1962) hypothesis of relaxation of selection against colour-blindness is also supported by our Andhra Pradesh data.

SUMMARY. The muscovites are 2M 1 polymorph type; minimum temperature of crystallization of 435 ~ is obtained from the molecular percentage of paragonite in muscovite.THE Nellore pegmatites are mined mainly for muscovite. Generally, pegmatites rich in microcline perthite are uneconomical for muscovite mining. Though the muscovite is not an important mineral of the wall zone, in some of the pegmatites muscovite lodes are observed in the wall zone; it is an essential mineral constituent of intermediate zone, is observed in the quartz core margin, and occurs as fracture fillings. Concentration of muscovite around xenoliths of country rock in the pegmatites is common.Muscovite occurs in shades of green and ruby. Swaminathan (I93O), who gave analyses, reported books of mica measuring as much as' IO feet along the basal planes, and 15 feet along the folia'. But usually all gradations of size from a few square feet of area down to scales of microscopic dimensions are observed. Sp. gr. 2.9o~o-o5; 2V~ 38-44~ varies from 1"58o to 1"59o.The inclusions in muscovite are divided into primary inclusions (those formed during or shortly after crystallization of the mica) and secondary inclusions (those formed between the cleavage planes, chiefly through the action of circulating ground water). Some primary inclusions, when removed, leave a hole in the main sheet, interrupting the continuity of the cleavage planes. But secondary inclusions and a few primary inclusions are confined to the space between the sheets.The primary inclusions in the muscovite under study are garnet, quartz, and magnetite. The secondary inclusions are limonite and hematite. Garnet occurs as small subhedral crystals, quartz as thin layers between the cleavage planes. Magnetite is observed as small crystals, needles, dendrites, and stripes ( fig. I). The magnetite is black and opaque when it is sufficiently thick; it is light smoky grey and isotropic in the thinner aggregates. The length of the stripes, needles, and dendrites vary from a few mm to IOO mm. Some of the inclusions are parallel to rays of the percussion figure. A close similarity of atomic arrangement and spacing in (I i I) planes of magnetite with that of the (oo I) plane of muscovite is reported (Frondel and Ashby, 1937). The black magnetite inclusions are altered to yellow and red inclusions. The magnetite

SUMMARY. The obliquity values of microcline perthites are nearer to maximum microcline type, indicating that they have less than Io % Ab in their lattices, apart from exsolved albite. The perthites are classified based on form as stringier, string, film, vein, and replacement types. It is concluded that stringlet and string perthites are formed by exsolution along contraction cracks, followed by film as a result of decrease in rate of cooling and increase in water vapour content of the pegmatites, whereas vein and replacement perthites are formed last, by replacement when the pegmatites crystallized in a closed system. Based on the chemical composition of microcline perthites, a temperature of 6oo ~ is arrived at for unmixing of feldspar to give rise to microcline perthite.THIS work is a part of the studies on pegmatites of the Nellore mica-belt (I4 ~ to I5 ~ N., 79 ~ 4o' to 79 ~ 45' E.) carried out at the Geology Department, Andhra University, Waltair. The pegmatites were emplaced in the Precambrian Schistose Series: quartzite, quartz-schist, quartz-mica-schist, mica-schist, biotite-schist, muscovite-biotite-schist, chlorite-schist, hornblende-schist, etc. In the Nellore mica-belt, zoned pegmatites with or without quartz cores, and non-zoned simple or complex pegmatites are observed. But in all the pegmatites border and wall zones are observed. Based on the dates of minerals (samarskite, allanite, cyrtolite, biotite, and muscovite) from the pegmatites, an age of I49O-21oo Myr is assigned to the Nellore pegmatites (Aswathanarayana, 1964; Vinagradov and Tugarinov, I964). In the pegmatites quartz, microcline perthite, and soda plagioclase are the abundant minerals, muscovite and biotite are less abundant. Garnet, beryl, and tourmaline are the minor minerals. Samarskite, cyrtolite, sipylite, apatite, and zircon are rarely observed in the pegmatites. Jayaraman (I94O) studied the chemistry and mineralogy of the feldspars from pegmatites of the Nellore mica-belt.The pegmatites are mined mainly for muscovite. Microcline perthite, the byproduct, is used in the nearby ceramic industry. It may be an essential constituent of all the zones or may form one of the zones of the pegmatites, except at the quartz core. In non-zoned pegmatites, pockets entirely composed of microcline perthite are observed.Physical and opticalproperties. Microcline perthite occurs in shades of white, green, or flesh red. Sp. gr. between 2.55 and 2.6o. Microcline portion of the microcline perthite has 2 V --82 ~ to --84 ~ extinction angles from 12 ~ to 15 ~ to (ooi) and from 2 ~ to 5 ~ to (OLO). Cross-hatched twinning is observed. The optical angle of the plagioclase